Sexting ‘extortion’: Canadian MP Tony Clement sent explicit photos and videos of himself to a stranger
- Tony Clement has quit parliament’s national security oversight committee over the scandal
A leading member of Canada’s main opposition party, who was also a former cabinet minister, has resigned from parliament’s national security oversight committee after admitting he sent sexually explicit pictures and video of himself to someone he had never met.
Conservative legislator Tony Clement said he shared the material with “someone who I believed was a consenting female recipient”, according to a statement he issued late on Tuesday.
“The recipient was, in fact, an individual or party who targeted me for the purpose of financial extortion,” added Clement, who was the party’s spokesman on justice issues.
Clement had high level security clearance as a member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, an oversight body set up in 2017 and has access to highly classified information.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and government security agencies are investigating, Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer said on Wednesday.
The recipient was, in fact, an individual or party who targeted me for the purpose of financial extortion
After initially saying Clement would remain in the Conservative caucus, Scheer later changed his mind and announced he would leave the parliamentary group.